COVID vaccines should be part of the federal government's list of routinely recommended vaccinations, a panel of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts said Thursday. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously to back the move, as part of a two-day long meeting.
The move, part of a series of proposed changes to documents which are revised early every year, would amount to little more than summarizing recommendations already decided by the agency's advisers, the CDC said.
"It's important to note that there are no changes in COVID-19 vaccine policy, and today's action simply helps streamline clinical guidance for healthcare providers by including all currently licensed, authorized and routinely recommended vaccines in one document," the CDC said in a statement published on Thursday.
It also has responded to misleading claims aired by Fox News host Tucker Carlson and others, which falsely accused the CDC of moving to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations to enroll in public schools. There is no such mandate, and the CDC has made clear that decisions about school policies lie with state and local officials.
In the hotly contested Senate contest in Nevada, Republican candidate Adam Laxalt on Thursday called on his opponent — incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto — to "say whether she stands by the actions taken by the CDC on forced vaccinations of children in Nevada or not."
Some Republican governors have also weighed in, reiterating that their states do not mandate the COVID vaccine for students. Twenty-one states have banned requiring the shots in schools, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.
""It's up to parents to decide how to protect their child from viruses and as long as I am governor, we will never force kids to get a COVID vaccine to go to school," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said Thursday in a statement.
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